Educational entrepreneur John Lee tells of Renee Gill Pratt's role in getting earmarks

Well into the second day of testimony, prosecutors have put educational entrepreneur John Lee on the stand to testify about former state Rep. Renee Gill Pratt's role in securing earmarks to purchase an algebra tutorial Lee was peddling.

Gill Pratt is charged with conspiring with three members of the ex-U.S. Rep. William Jefferson's family to steal more than $1 million from bogus charities they created and financed with taxpayer money.

One of the co-defendants in the case, Mose Jefferson, is serving a 10-year federal sentence after being convicted of bribing former Orleans Parish School Board President Ellenese Brooks-Simms in exchange for her support for the same algebra tutorial.

Mose Jefferson was supposed to be tried alongside Gill Pratt, his longtime girlfriend, but was excused because he is terminally ill with cancer.

Lee said his firm JRL Enterprises hired Mose Jefferson as a consultant to introduce him to political movers and shakers. It was Jefferson who suggested they use an earmark in the state budget to fund the purchase of the program by two private schools, Holy Ghost and Xavier Prep, he said.

The government alleges that Gill Pratt got a share of the commission Jefferson received for selling the program to the two schools.

Earlier in the day prosecutors questioned Afred "Butch" Speer, clerk of the state House of Representatives, about lawmakers' practice of renting office space in their districts.

The government entered documents into evidence showing that Gill Pratt, while serving in the legislature, signed a 3-year contract in 2000 to rent office space from Southwind Consultants, a company owned by Mose Jefferson. The monthly rent listed in the contract was $500.

Speer said the only prohibitions governing the rentals is that lawmakers don't rent from themselves, a business they own, or a relative.

"So if I was a state Rep., I could rent from my drinking buddy?" asked Gill Pratt's defense attorney Mike Fawer.

Speer said he could.

Gill Pratt continued using taxpayer money to rent space in the building after she was elected to the New Orleans City Council. Initially she paid $1,600 per month, but the price went up to $1,800 in January 2005.

On March 31, 2003, Southwind Consultants paid Gill Pratt $5,000, according to the indictment.